Carlsbad Updated Student Health Guidance For Families

From the Carlsbad Unified School District:

March 2 2020

Carlsbad Unified families and staff,

In light of news reports about the coronavirus (COVID-19), we’ve received a number of questions about what parents should do if their child is ill and/or has a fever.

Here’s a March 1, 2020 article from the LA Times which you may find useful: I have a cough and fever. Should I get checked for coronavirus?

Please remember that students may not return to school until they have been fever-free, without the assistance of medication, for at least 24 hours.

If your child has a fever and is exhibiting symptoms of the flu or other respiratory illness, we recommend the following:

1. Keep your child home from school if they are sick; they may not return to school until they are fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication.
2. We recommend you take your child to the doctor to be tested for the flu or other respiratory illness.
3. If your child is diagnosed with the flu or other respiratory illness, please let your school know and follow the doctor’s recommendations for recovery.
4. If your child is not diagnosed with the flu or other respiratory illness and the doctor recommends returning to school (assuming the child has been fever-free for at least 24 hours), please share this information with the school prior to or at the time you return your child to school.

Thank you for following these recommendations. If you have additional questions, do not hesitate to reach out to your school directly.

If you’ve travelled to a country identified by the CDC as having a widespread outbreak of COVID-19, your child may be required to stay home from school for 14 days; please share travel info with your school prior to returning.

Here are the latest updates from the CDC. Please also visit our website for updated information.

As we shared last week, please continue to remind your children about the importance of properly, and frequently, washing your hands.

We are actively working with a variety of local, county, and state agencies on this issue, and we’re collaboratively developing a response plan in the case there's a coronavirus outbreak in San Diego County. We have a scheduled call two times per week with the City of Carlsbad Department of Emergency Planning, and we are working closely with the San Diego County Office of Education and the County of San Diego Department of Public Health. Any decision to close schools would be made at the recommendation of those agencies; at this time, we will continue with instruction as usual. We will let you know if anything changes.

This press release was produced by the Carlsbad Unified School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.